TV 2014: Disappointments

Follow-up from last year's post: the biggie from last year was Agents of SHIELD.  I was indeed very disappointed in it and might have stopped watching if not for the fact that after the episode that followed up the events in Captain America Winter Soldier, the show suddenly got pretty good.  It's still not as good as I had initially hoped, but it's not something I dread watching.

Also, my note about Downtown Abbey from last year made me giggle a bit because after seeing The Guest, I am All About Dan Stevens.

American Horror Story: Coven and Freak Show
I initially listed this as just Freak Show, but it's really Coven that was the big disappointment.  I gave up on Freak Show a few episodes ago and don't plan to go back, but I was kind of meh on it from the beginning of the season.  But Coven!  OMG.  Witches and magic and glorious wonders!  It started out pretty good and then just sort of fell apart somewhere.  Ah, well, we'll always have season 2, Asylum. 

Gotham
I so wanted to like Gotham.  I love the Batman universe and I love comic book shows.  Plus, Donal Logue?  YES, please.  And I think if the show had adhered to the original intent, which was to focus on the Gotham PD and a young James Gordon, it would have been better.  Instead, they insisted on adding in yet another origin story for Bruce Wayne, which was unnecessary.  We know that this show will NEVER be able to actually portray a grownup Bruce Wayne as Batman, so why even have him as a character?  And some of the writing and acting was just truly atrocious.  Boo.


New Girl 
I was a huge 'shipper of Jess and Nick.  When they got together, it added a new dimension to the characters and to the show.  And when they broke up, I understood why it happened.  I have no issues with the fact that the characters didn't stay a romantic couple.  However, the reasoning behind Jess breaking up with Nick is why I can't watch the show anymore.  In reconciling the differences between the characters, it became clear that Jess was always going to be the adult who would try to compromise and not try to change Nick to fit her standards.  But Nick was always going to be the man-child who would never compromise and would just always be a man-child who expected Jess to adjust to him but would never reciprocate.  And that made me not like Nick anymore.  Which devastates me because I LOVED him so much.  I don't object to him being a silly man-child.  I object to him never trying to actually be something more, ever.

The Strain
I was so into this show when it started.  I loved the books and felt it had a good shot at translating well to being dramatized.  But there were quite a few mis-steps in the casting and writing departments.  Mostly in the casting of Ephraim and Nora.  I quite like Corey Stoll, but somehow he just did not click as Eph.  Either he wasn't right for the part or the writing did him no favors, I'm not sure which.  And Nora.  UGH.  The actress was terrible and it just kept getting worse.  And her damn mother, ugh.  I had to stop watching and doubt I'll ever go back to it.